Waiting Beneath the Sands: Chapter Eight - Hamunaptra
Characters: Captain Capsize, Sonja Firefoxx, Skipper Redbeard, Tucker Jericho, Spark Conway, Rupert the Grey, Lieutenant Alister, Tom Syndicate, Jordan CaptainSparklez, Waglington, Deviser Gaines
Relationship: Captain Capsize/Sonja Firefox, Captain Capsize & Skipper Redbeard
After numerous days of travel through the desert, Hamunaptra is reached. There is as much anticipation as hesitation to begin their digs as the reality of those that came before them stares those newly arrived in the face.
Capsize’s excitement is almost too much to contain as the possibility of finding the relic she has always dreamed of finally seems within her grasp. Sonja can’t help but hold some hesitance, sure of an evil lurking in the ruins. However, as long as she can keep the innocent excitement of the one she’s guiding, perhaps this trip will still be one she can enjoy.
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It had been a rough few days’ travel. The small group hadn’t truly stopped at any point since their ride across the desert had begun, leading to an uncomfortable experience. Though the mood hadn’t fully dampened, it was perhaps a little subdued from the tiredness that came with unceasing travel. Still, even with comfort waning and facing the potential of another day of non-stop progress through the beating sun, Capsize found herself more in anticipation than ever before.
They were getting close now. That had been confirmed to her now thrice over.
The first was merely a feeling in her bones. It was hard for her to properly define, as if the city itself was tugging her towards it, its hold getting stronger as she got ever closer. Of course, she knew this in reality to be little more than her own excitement getting the better of her logical thoughts. Her other confirmations, though, were more based in reality.
One was her study of the map. It had been brief, not nearly enough to formulate a route to the city by herself, especially with the damage it had sustained in the museum. However, she had been able to figure out an estimate of how long their journey should take prior to its destruction. Undoubtedly, it was a rough estimate as she wasn’t precisely familiar enough with this sort of travel to properly calculate beyond a guess. That and the unexpected shift in their travel plans had ruined the only bit of certainty that original guess had had. However, if she took into account that they had travelled through the nights as well as through the days, they were coming up on even her longest of travel estimates.
The final, and the most reassuring of her confirmations, were the confident words of Miss Foxx that they would be arriving today. That really ought to be the only confirmation she needed. Though a mere few days ago, she would’ve been hard-pressed to trust the woman’s words alone, she now saw no reason to doubt her. It had become quite undeniable that Foxx was dependable in a way that she just wasn’t quite used to.
Truthfully, Capsize wasn’t used to anyone taking her seriously. The great majority of people saw her as… well, not worth listening to. They’d nod along for the first few sentences before either speaking over her or making clear in some other way that they really had no care for her opinion. Foxx, however, hadn’t done that.
They had argued a few brief times. However, in none of those bickering sessions did Capsize feel as though the soldier was dismissing her. Yes, she was a touch condescending at times for Capsize’s taste, but she did appear to actually listen to what she said.
At the trading post, she seemed to listen. When she’d questioned her about the tools they’d lost, she had apparently listened to every word of her explanation. Even when it had turned to a ramble, Foxx hadn’t cut through her and told her to get to the point. Admittedly, that was a ridiculously low bar, but it was one that shockingly few of the people she’d met cleared.
In general, there was a certain side to Foxx that Capsize hadn’t expected there to be but found herself curiously wishing to know everything about. An unexpected genuineness that was wholly unfitting of the prisoner they had first encountered. One that, despite everything, made Capsize feel safe with her life being protected by the woman.
They had chatted a number of times throughout the multi-day ride. At first, Capsize had been hesitant to. Distracting their guide seemed rather a silly idea to alleviate boredom so she had held off, really only talking with Red or relying on her own thoughts to distract herself during the stretching days. However, on their second day through the desert, Foxx had been the one to begin talking with her.
Their conversations had been pleasant. Foxx seemed to hold a great deal of curiosity despite her showing what Capsize had read as dismissal back on the ship. She asked Capsize of history and archaeology, allowing her to ramble on, only interrupting when she had further questions on the topic. She had seemed to listen to every word as Capsize spoke, her heart beating in her chest.
In turn, Capsize had asked after Foxx’s knowledge. On how she could traverse through the desert so confidently; on her guns. The latter had gotten a raised eyebrow, as if it was the last thing she thought the scholar would be interested in. Truthfully though, she did hold some fascination with the weapons. Despite her initial questioning, Foxx had given her a basic run down on her personal arsenal, promising a more in-depth explanation once they had arrived and could take a real look at them.
They had only very briefly discussed themselves. Though Capsize did admittedly hold a great deal of questions about their guide, Foxx seemed reluctant to talk about herself which in turn made her reluctant to ask about her companion. Still, that hesitance hadn’t stopped her completely. She had worked up the nerve to ask a few questions that she had received answers to.
Foxx was an American – or rather a Canadian, though Capsize didn’t quite understand the distinction. She had spent her early childhood in her birthplace before her life had been packed up and moved to Egypt. Precisely why she hadn’t said and there were so many reasons that she could’ve that Capsize didn’t think it practical to try and assume.
Between her teenage years and adulthood, she had apparently visited quite a number of countries before ending up back in Egypt for her trip to Hamunaptra. She was frightfully short on details but Capsize didn’t push. There was satisfaction enough in learning these little pieces.
Sonja too found herself curious about the woman she was guiding. She couldn’t precisely bring herself to ask all the questions she wished to. It wouldn’t feel fair to when she was being so evasive when talking about herself. Still, she found herself completely intrigued by this woman who had so suddenly come into her life.
A woman born in Egypt, proud of being so. She had apparently left for her education, which she seemed rather annoyed about. Sonja thought that odd as the woman clearly wished to travel more, asking after details of all the places Sonja had experienced. Her curiosity seemed all consuming which in turn created such a number of questions in her own head.
Frankly, she didn’t understand Capsize. A girl like her should be living the high life, relaxing in some fancy house without a care in the world. Yet instead, here she was trekking towards a city only sought out by desperate fools. It didn’t make a lick of sense to Sonja, but it did absolutely intrigue her.
The girl was absolutely her best company at present. Though, considering her competition, that was some damn faint praise. At best, she could call the two men present annoying. The worst? Well, that depended on the precise moment she was asked. Right now, as the two had been bickering since the moment they had woken, she rather wished she could be rid of the both of them.
“And you snore!” Redbeard added with the petulance of a child. He had rather made a hobby of picking at the warden over the past few days as a way of both entertaining himself and somewhat venting his many frustrations towards the man.
It wasn’t that Sonja was unsympathetic to his reasoning. She also wished to grant Alister every possible annoyance as the man was about as pleasant as a stone in her shoe. However, she was also stuck listening to their childish arguments which left her wishing to throttle the ginger man just as much as the one he was arguing with.
“I do not snore!”
“All night you snore! Loud enough to wake the dead!”
For hours they’d been at it, Sonja’s annoyance only compounded from the days they’d been at it before. Never did she think that the worst part of returning to Hamunaptra would be the journey to the city, but damn if the world wasn’t testing her.
Next to her, Capsize was simply rolling her eyes at her brother’s nonsense. She, Sonja supposed, was very much used to his behaviour and therefore also used to tuning it out. Sonja very much wished she had that skill. Hopefully, whatever dig they were doing would allow her some distance from the men. With so few hands that felt like a pipe dream, but one that would keep her sane for the moment, so she allowed herself to have it.
The familiarity of the ridges around them began to be undeniable, setting a dread in her bones. A dread she made herself ignore as she looked to the woman riding beside her with a ghost of a smile.
“We’re nearly there,” She said, her voice jostling Capsize from the thoughts she had been lost in. Pretty brown eyes looked towards her, blinking a few too many times as she brought herself back into reality.
Despite everything, she couldn’t quite believe those words.
“Really? You’re sure?” She asked.
Those words could’ve offended Sonja had she thought the woman to be doubtful, but her tone betrayed that that was not the sort of question this was. This was anticipation, plain and simple. Excitement that one struggled to ever fully believe, though from the smirk already pulling at the corners of her lips, she clearly did regardless. How could Sonja be in any way mad at this sight?
So instead, she kept her smile.
“Yeah, I’m—”
“Morning, Sonja!” A loud voice cut through the air. From around a far dune, an absolute crowd of people were riding into view. The yell had come from the one leading them, a voice that Sonja recognised but had hoped she’d have at least a few more days before having to hear again.
There came Tucker, leading the foreign crew of adventurers. He rode ahead on a camel, the only one of the group to be riding the desert mount with those following him on the horses rescued from the boat. She wondered if the man remembered the pains of this journey last time and refused to ride a horse even if those he was guiding refused to listen to his advice. Or maybe, given how he had shown off about his possession of all the animals, he had simply been the last of his group to be able to pick a mount and been stuck with what was left.
The four treasure hunters rode behind him. They, in turn, were followed by around fifteen others. Mostly locals from Sonja’s once over, though the real linking factor seemed to be that all were down on their luck.
They all had that look to them, an exhaustion held by labourers who had little choice but to accept work when the offer was presented to them. In this case, they’d clearly been quickly employed so their employers wouldn’t need to get their own hands dirty. Or maybe they were simply exhausted from the multi-day long ride they had to have surely taken to arrive at the same time as her own little group.
Sonja kicked herself for not thinking that Tucker would’ve taken the same approach as herself. She thought his fear of the place might’ve slowed him down a bit, but it seemed the promise of riches was stronger than his cowardice. Or maybe his fear of those he was leading overweighed his fear of the city. Though, given the looks of them, she sincerely doubted that idea.
Still, she couldn’t exactly disappear the lot. They were stuck with around the same arrival time, but at least that lot hadn’t arrived first. That was the thought she allowed herself to hold, using it to stop any real frustrations from growing as they came to a stop next to each other.
The only greeting she gave Tucker was a curt nod that gave the man none of the annoyance he wished to see in the woman. He likely would’ve needled her more, as he would’ve back when they were travelling together in their garrison, except one of his own entourage interrupted the moment.
“Why are we stopping?” Sparklez asked with a confusion that Tucker responded to with a roll of his eyes unseen by the man questioning him.
“Have some patience, would you?” He said with an exasperation that entertained Sonja. It seemed she wasn’t the only one dealing with annoyances on this journey. Somethings never changed, she supposed. At least, one of her companions had been pleasant. She doubted he could say the same.
Knowing he needed to be absolutely sure of their whereabouts, Tucker looked down at the sand below them. As his eyes touched the sands, he swallowed. If the presence of the other group wasn’t enough, the sight he was met with confirmed this was the correct location. “We’re just about there…”
He muttered that with a pale face. Why? Why was he back here?
His hesitation was read as such by those following him. They, however, did not all read it as from the same source.
“How on earth can you be—” Waglington, who had continued to quite doubt Jericho’s legitimacy began. However, the scholar’s doubts were interrupted.
“Oh, good God!” Redbeard, in some bored curiosity, had followed the squirrely man’s gaze down to the sand. The sight he was met with, the one Jericho had taken in with little more than a hesitant nervousness, sent a rather nasty shock through him.
His exclamation caught the attention of everyone else, all but Foxx and Jericho also looking down at the sands. There were waves of shock, some gasps of disgust, at the sight they were met with.
Capsize brought a hand up to her mouth. Sticking out the sand, exposed from the shifting winds that danced across the top of the endless dunes, were pearly white bones. There were dozens of skeletons, stripped bare over years by rough sand.
She didn’t have quite as shocked a reaction as some of those around her. She was quite used to remains. The museum held mummies and bones on display which she had occasionally been asked to assist with moving when her co-workers’ need for extra hands outweighed their fear of her clumsiness.
That was to say, it was not merely the sight of bones that she found disconcerting. Rather it was the sheer number. The way that they appeared to be clawing out of the dunes as the horses and camels stepped over them, accidently crushing them to dust beneath their feet. It was all rather… Well, it left her a certain tightness in her chest.
“The other seekers of Hamunaptra,” Foxx said in that unreadable tone she had used a few times now, only ever when talking about her past. It gave Capsize some pause. Foxx had mentioned her entire garrison dying on their last journey here. Were any of these skeletons one of them? How were any of them to tell if one of them was?
None of the others felt the same melancholy that Capsize did about this. A few felt a chill at the thought of what could be their potential fate. One, however, felt nothing of the sort.
“Yeah, yeah, poor sods,” Tom said, rather flippantly. Really, who cared about all the folks who had died? They’d have no treasure to find if any of them had succeeded. So, while it obviously wasn’t good that they had died, it really was an advantage for them. Besides, it wasn’t as though any of them were going to end up dead so why dwell on those who had? “Don’t lose focus, Foxx! Our bet’s still on! First one to the city gets five hundred pounds cash!”
Capsize looked up, rather shocked at those words, towards Foxx for any sort of reaction. Had she led them on through the night simply to win a bet? She didn’t want to believe that of the woman – not after making precisely that assumption back on the boat and making a fool of herself in response.
No, she shouldn’t make that mistake again. This was simply the same sort of nonsense that only Mr Syndicate cared about. Though, if he was serious about it, Capsize did hold a slight worry. Did Foxx have five hundred pounds to give should he demand it? Well, Capsize couldn’t precisely imagine Foxx being intimidated into doing anything she didn’t wish to, but with all the guns about, she did fear things getting messy should any arguments break out.
Foxx, however, had not at all reacted to the words said to her. Her gaze, alongside that of her rival guide, was fixed firmly on the horizon. The sun was rising, breaking the flatness of the land stretching out before them.
Sonja sensed those eyes on her, curious as ever. She couldn’t take her eyes off their fixed point in the distance, not with Tucker next to her most certainly waiting for any distraction. But she could still speak while keeping her concentration.
“Get ready,” She said, sure that the woman would listen to her, that this wouldn’t be a time that the woman began arguing with her.
Indeed, Capsize recognised that something was happening. That feeling, that calling in her bones from Hamunaptra itself wishing for her, returned at full force.
“What for?” She asked, excitement brimming in her tone. Despite not looking at her, Sonja could tell that Capsize was leaning forward, attempting to see what she was looking for. The thought put a smile on her face.
“We’re about to be shown the way.”
As if it had been waiting for those words to make its reveal, the horizon began to shift. At first, it appeared to Capsize to be just an odd shadow on the horizon caused by the sun shining. However, that didn’t quite make sense. It seemed far too solid an image to merely be shifting light. It became more and more into focus and though she didn’t understand even a little how this could’ve possibly been hidden, rippling into being through the hazy ripples of heat were ridges and cliffs. But far, far more importantly, the smallest hints between them of a great set of ruins.
Immediately, Capsize found her voice stuck in her throat. This was it. It had to be. Right before her, appearing as if by magic, was Hamunaptra. Her heart was absolutely pounding. She almost rode forward immediately as a childish excitement was racing through her. She was, however, stopped by the fact that Foxx didn’t appear to have any reaction. She – and the other guide for that matter – just kept staring into the distance. So, despite the energy threatening to burst out of her, Capsize remained still, waiting for any signal.
There were two, however, who didn’t hold such patience. Jordan and Tom especially had been antsy even back on the boat. With the mythical city now in their sight, they were not waiting another second. They whipped their horses’ reins and took off towards the city in a gallop.
“See you there, Foxx!” Jordan yelled as the two sped off into the distance.
The soldier gave them no mind, not so much as flickering her eyes over to the man hollering into the distance. Oddly enough, Tucker also gave no attention to the two he was meant to be leading, focusing on the attention just as Foxx was, entirely in the distance.
The further the two got, the more anxiety began to press at Capsize. It didn’t precisely matter who was first, it wouldn’t make much difference really. Still, a part of her did wish to win whatever silly contest was at play. However, she attempted to swallow it down, to ignore that childish little desire and just trust Foxx.
She, however, was not the only one confused.
“Ah, not to take charge or anything,” Redbeard began, riding a bit closer to the two women. Only Capsize looked towards him, though she already knew his words hadn’t been for her. His hesitant words were for the soldier who frankly seemed to be ignoring him. “But shouldn’t we be going?”
He certainly didn’t want to imply that he knew better than her. He was sure that they had some reason to be waiting around. However, he did feel quite antsy about just watching the two racing ahead.
“Yes, what the bloody hell was the point of riding us day and night if we were just going to let that lot win?” Alister was far less understanding, his gruff voice clearly irritated. He’d spent multiple nights sleeping on this damn camel and for what? To be the second lot there? Absolutely not.
As with all the other attempts to gain it, Foxx’s attention was not swayed. Her stare was entirely locked upon the city she wasn’t moving towards. It seemed as though she was locked in a trance, though she also seemed far too focused to be in any way mesmerised.
Capsize wondered if she should say something. Foxx did always appear to listen to her more than she did to Red or the warden, a fact she assigned entirely to how she hadn’t harmed the woman in any way as those two had. If she said something, then she had the feeling that their guide would break her stare and give them some answer. Yet, if her concentration was so intense, Capsize thought it might not be wise to break it.
So, she remained quiet, waiting. And indeed, there had been a good reason for her concentration.
The city, which had been so solid and looked so real, shifted – moved across the horizon as if tugged. Capsize blinked a few times, trying to process the impossible sight. It was far too complex a vision to be a mirage. Nor could it be an illusion brought on by heat as all of them had witnessed it. But it wasn’t as though the city itself could actually move.
She knew of ancient cities that were designed to react to the sun at certain positions, architecture that even current scholars couldn’t figure out how they had been built in the first place. Hamunaptra might be another example of that. A city built to react in a strange way to the rise of the sun. Perhaps that was how it had remained hidden for so long. It didn’t seem the most logical explanation as she couldn’t so much as fathom the sort of construction to make the location dance across the horizon like this, but surely it must be.
It was an incredible effect though, truly looking as though the city itself was moving. Apparently, it was just as much a trickery close up as it was from this distance as the two men who had been dashing towards the city suddenly faltered as it became clear they were headed in the incorrect direction. They pulled up their reigns, attempting to turn their horses on a dime in a way animals really couldn’t. Their horses flailed. Sparklez’s bucked, throwing him to the sand. In turn, Tom jumped from his mount to assist his friend.
Tucker, for a moment, allowed his gaze to drift over to them. He scrunched his nose up.
“Damn idiots,” He muttered, wishing he had a friend with a modicum of patience. He only allowed himself to look for a moment, before forcing his gaze back to the shifting image of the city. He couldn’t allow himself to get distracted by them. Not with Sonja right next to him.
He looked up just in time to see the city shift once more, to the opposite side of the horizon it had been on originally.
Capsize couldn’t see any difference between this version of the image and the one that had originally appeared. There must’ve been one though as both Foxx and Jericho tensed. They saw something in this version of the city.
There was a single moment where the two old friends shared a look, as if they were back in their army days, raring to compete in some stupid contest. Then they were swatting their camels and dashing towards the city they had no real desire to return to.
Everyone else was only seconds behind, hauling ass to ensure they didn’t lose their guides. At least, that’s what Capsize told herself, but as she sped up, felt her hair whipping back in the wind, she also didn’t mind the idea of getting ahead of the two.
Sonja and Tucker clearly held the advantage. They had ridden this path before. They had a headstart. It made sense that they were neck and neck as they raced towards their destination.
Tucker wasn’t happy with this. He didn’t want the potential of coming second. Either he beat Sonja or this was all for nothing. He needed to get her out of the race. The riding crop in his hand gave him the perfect idea of how to do that.
He leant over and swatted at her, hoping to knock her off balance, send her off her camel and into the dunes. If she had a brain, she’d slow down and let him win. If she didn’t, well, it wasn’t as if she’d die. She’d just have to walk the rest of the distance. However, he maybe should’ve considered his own position just a tad more.
It was on his third whip towards her. He was leaning dangerously far off his camel, dangerously close to Sonja to ensure his attacks landed. He had expected her to dodge away, to put herself in a similar position as he was in, but instead, she gripped a hold of his arm. After two times already, she could read him well enough to know where his attack was going.
She could’ve just wrenched the whip from his grip, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew exactly what he had been trying to do. Like hell was she letting him off easily.
With him still in her grip, she gave him a dark grin. She drank in his look of absolute terror for a few moments before jerking him from the camel and tossing him to the ground. Tucker tumbled into the sand, bracing his head to stop any real damage. The others began to speed past him, barely managing to dodge from their path.
Serves him right. Capsize thought as she quickly sped past him.
She had quickly managed to get ahead of those she had set off at the same time as and was gaining on Foxx. She felt utterly alive. This was what she had been missing; being out in the field. It was fuelling her. The more speed she gained, the faster her heart raced, the more joyous laughter escaped her.
She was neck and neck with Foxx, the soldier meeting her with a smile. Once more, Sonja found herself baffled by the strangeness of this girl. The wonderous, exciting yet utterly confusing woman. Well, she didn’t exactly mind strange, but that didn’t mean she was going to let her win.
Sonja focused on keeping speed. She had ridden before. Not in a racing context, but still, she should’ve held the advantage. Yet it seemed Capsize was a natural talent, still gaining speed somehow and not looking the least bit out of control. It was almost inevitable that the soldier fell behind. Despite how that meant losing, Sonja couldn’t help the growing smile on her face at witnessing the sheer joy of her companion.
“Go on, Capsize! Go!” Redbeard’s yell travelled from the distance back he was, along with his cheers and hoots. How long had it been since he’d seen Capsize laughing like this? Not since they were kids really. So far, far too long. Something about seeing her expressing such happiness was elating.
She deserved to win. After so many goddamn losses, all those rejections she’d been met with. No one deserved a win more than her.
With those cheers fuelling her, Capsize felt her adrenaline coursing through her veins. She was positively giddy; so, so alive in this moment as she raced into the ruins.
It was when she passed into them that she tugged the reins, slowing the animal down as quickly as she could. She wasn’t entirely sure if she was far enough in to win, nor did she at all care. Her mind was taken over by the majesty of it all.
She had slipped off her camel by the time Foxx came thundering in, wandering in almost a trance towards a column. The soldier slowed her own mount, hopping off and strolling over.
“Don’t go wandering off before we’re all here. We still need to set up camp,” She said with a smile. She wasn’t sure if she expected to actually pull the woman from the examination of the column. She looked so careful as she traced over the hieroglyphics carved into the stone. Sonja could’ve watched her locked in such concentration for hours.
Her words did, however, pull the woman’s attention. Capsize turned to her with a wide smile, doing great work to put on a professional image when she felt this excitable.
“We’re here,” She said, near breathless. She truly couldn’t believe it. It seemed beyond reality to stand in a city of legend, to have such history and discoveries at her fingertips and beneath her feet.
Despite everything, Sonja found herself happy to once more be standing in the city of the dead.
𓂀 𓂀 𓂀
Setting up their camp only took around an hour. It was far more time than Capsize’s would’ve liked as she was itching to get underground, to explore everything and hopefully find the book she had been dreaming of finding since she was a child. Still, she understood the reasoning of needing everything set up first and thus assisted in hoisting up their couple of tents and unloading their supplies.
The foreign crew had overtaken the main expanse of the ruins. Their various diggers were setting up the tents and tables, and those that had finished with their original tasks were now assigned to clearing away rocks from what appeared to be the main entrance to the city below. That perhaps should’ve bothered her. That guide of the other crew had laughed after Foxx as if they had lost something. Clearly none of them had actually researched this place.
Capsize had been quite happy to make this camp a little higher up. Though there weren’t exactly detailed maps of Hamunaptra, she understood from the accounts that the city sprawled throughout the underground. They should just be able to dig into one of the chambers. Though the actual breaking of ground would need to wait until their guide returned.
“Where the hell is Foxx?” Alister exclaimed. Frankly, Capsize didn’t understand his problem. He had already been a disgusting bastard back in the prison. Now, away from his position of power, he had become irritable to say the least. After five days with him she had the desperate desire to punch him.
Had he been at all helpful, she might’ve been able to put up with the frustration, but the only time he aided them at all was when they’d all already made it halfway through a task, his ego bruised from Foxx glaring at him. She frankly wished to be completely rid of him, but she knew that to be impossible. Instead, she just bit her cheek and attempted to release her frustration through a huffed exhale.
Unfortunately, the burn annoyance did indeed remain. The source of it, after all, still existed, still set there with a scowl. There was only so much a positive attitude could do.
“Oh, what do you care?” Red asked him. Though his tone sounded neutral, he was quite obviously attempting to bicker, as he was every time the two interacted. “You’d still just be sitting around if she was here.”
His words really ought to have gotten him punched. Indeed, often Capsize had seen this attitude of his gain him a black eye as the one currently fading from his face. The warden, however, didn’t move from his spot. Perhaps, after days of facing arguments from his brother, he seemed rather used to these arguments.
“You hardly help! You stand about letting your sister do all the work!” Alister shot back, certainly sounding angrier than Red. He always did seem to be on a hair trigger, which unfortunately meant he constantly bit the bait offered to him by her brother. It had been mildly entertaining the first time, but after days of having them bicker in the background? It was quickly becoming just one more reason she wanted rid of the man.
“I was supervising. Very important,” She saw rage simmering within the warden at those nonchalant words.
Quickly, she realised this too was going to turn into an argument that would continue on until broken up by an outside observer. She wasn’t going to be that person this time. Not when she could actually escape the noise.
She pushed herself up from the bedroll she had been sitting on and began wandering away from the quickly developing argument. Though they must’ve noticed her leave, neither went to stop her.
She didn’t really have an objective in mind; she just wanted to move. After so many days of being stuck riding, it was pleasant to just walk around. As to where, well, frankly she was overwhelmed by the options. Even just the ruins above the surface could take up days of her life analysing them all, the idea of the spiralling ruins beneath her feet were making her heart race. Truly, it was a shame that time was so pressed with the other expedition surely looking for the Book of Amun-Ra just as she was, even if they only had interest due to the gold that it was allegedly made of.
Best she do something to get them moving as soon as Foxx returns. Why waste time? There would be far more exciting discoveries below. Hopefully, she could find some damage in the ground already, something they could open up to get below. Or better, she could find some sign of the Statue of Anubis above the surface which would tell them where they needed to get down to.
That was precisely what she intended to do. Though it took a bit of wandering almost aimlessly, she did indeed find a promising crack in the sandstone ground that she believed meant it was a ceiling for somewhere below. Though she ought to trace it, see if there was anywhere it opened up so they could avoid having to use their pickaxes and potentially damaging more than intended. However, as her eyes wandered, she found them drawn to another pillar with hieroglyphics. Then that part of her mind that desperately wished to take everything in that could be learnt about history took over.
Suddenly, there she was, tracing her fingers across the ancient writings. She wished she’d grabbed the journal they had picked up at the trading post. Surely, she should be making notes on this, yet she found herself so consumed by the writing. Blessings, she believed, meant to protect these sacred grounds.
This activity consumed her so much that she was quite deafened to her surroundings, enough so that she didn’t hear the person coming up behind her until:
“Miss Capsize?”
“Ah!” She jumped, whipping around in an instant with her stopped heart flailing her thoughts into a flashback to her attacker on the boat. Only she then found herself incredibly embarrassed when she saw who had actually appeared. “Oh, Mr Syndicate. I’d really prefer if you didn’t—”
She began speaking only to stop halfway through her point. The man already looked rather skittish.
“Did you need something? I thought you would still be rather busy with setting up your camp,” She instead tried to be polite as she would normally. After all, it wasn’t as though he had done anything wrong. At least, not since his little bet on the boat. As long as he didn’t try kissing her now, she could maintain professionalism with him.
“Oh, I am… Well, none of them will actually let me help, something about how if I try to help I’ll surely collapse everything already finished,” He said, seeming to think as he spoke rather than before. Capsize found herself with a bit of sympathy for the man she had mostly written off as an annoying show-off as she recalled being given similar reasons as to why she couldn’t help with certain tasks back at the museum. “So I was just sitting about, twiddling my thumbs, but I saw you up here and thought, well, might as well do this now.”
For a moment, Capsize was worried that he might try to kiss her. However, just as that thought crossed her mind, the man had reached inside his jacket and pulled from within it a wodge of cash.
“You were first through so here: five hundred pounds,” He said with a great smile, holding out the money for her to take.
Capsize blinked a few times. He… He had been serious about that bet with Foxx?
“No, I couldn’t possibly. I wasn’t even in on your bet,” She tried to insist. Really, she couldn’t justify taking it. Even if she had been in on this bet of his, she didn’t wish to take so much money from him. It wasn’t as if she needed it. Despite her protestations, she quickly found the money being pressed into her hands.
“Please, I insist. No doubt that Foxx will only force me later if she finds out you weren’t paid,” He said with a laugh.
Capsize laughed too. She could indeed picture the woman doing precisely that. If Foxx had found out he’d avoided paying, she’d likely drag him over by the scuff of his collar and force him to.
The man smiled easily.
“Well, that’s all I wanted,” He said, seeming a little lost on how to interact with her now his intended task was done. “Erm…”
There were a few beats of quiet between them.
“Good luck on your dig. I didn’t try to talk the others into just combining our expedition, but they…” His smile faltered as he felt rather uncomfortable at how his friends had been acting towards the other expedition. “Good luck.”
He said once more before dashing off.
𓂀 𓂀 𓂀
Tom once more found himself sitting around with little to do. He wasn’t the only one. Jordan and Tucker were also sitting around. However, unlike him, who was staring into the sky, they were at least conversing.
“What’s with all the camels?” Jordan asked Tucker. He’d been asking a few questions about the ruins to their guide, as if the man who had only been here once was an expert on the place.
This question referred to the near herd of the animals that were on the edge of the city. They certainly weren’t wild as the majority still wore saddles and had bags hanging off them. He’d been eyeing them suspiciously a few times, attempting to figure out their whole deal.
“They belong to the dead,” Tucker said without much tone in his voice. Everything around here was just another reminder of death. “They’ll wait around for years for their owners to return. They’ve probably been here for years before us, and they’ll stay here for years afterwards.”
Tom was only paying attention because everything else was less interesting.
Wag was currently by the still blocked-off entrance, directing the diggers on what rocks to work on removing to ensure they didn’t inadvertently cause more damage. Busy work rather, but he wished he had thought of it. Hell, he’d help to shift rock if they let him, anything to rid himself of this boredom.
He didn’t really understand why they had hired all the diggers anyway. They could’ve done all this themselves. It would’ve taken a while longer, but the other group were certainly doing fine by themselves. All bringing extra people had done was lose them money.
He wished he’d stayed longer with Capsize, had an actual conversation rather than such a brief meeting. After all, she seemed pleasant. After days of interacting with the same few people, it was nice to have a fresh face and the fact it was a pretty one didn’t hurt.
It was too late to go back to her now. Those four were up by the pillar she’d been by when he’d talked to her, doing something with rope and mirrors. He stared at them, trying to properly make out their activity despite the distance.
“Do they know something we don’t?” He interrupted his friends nodding over to their apparent rivals.
Tucker craned his neck around to look. He was already sure the answer would be yes, there was never a moment that Sonja didn’t know something that she held over him like a weight.
Jordan, meanwhile, rolled his eyes.
“What could they know? They’re led by a girl,” He asked with a dismissive laugh. It had become pretty clear from just their brief time together on the boat that the bronzed skin woman was the one directing the expedition. Like good for her, but it was a joke. There was a reason that women weren’t typically put in charge of these things.
The others laughed. Tom somewhat felt bad for doing so. Miss Capsize did seem perfectly pleasant, but there was something funny about her being the one in charge rather than her brother. That simply wasn’t the done thing. Even if she technically was the one doing all the planning, they ought to be presenting Redbeard as the one making the decisions.
It was strangely Tucker who objected. He had laughed, because it was ridiculous how swayed his old friend was by a pretty face. Then the gears in his head continued turning and he realised that this doubt might extend to Sonja which had its own level of hilarity, but it might land them all in some hot water.
“Probably shouldn’t assume that,” The two turned to him, as if the suggestion was entirely ruining their fun. Quickly, he added more. “I thought that about Sonja when I first met her and she’s…”
Terrifying was the word he wanted to say. However, he bottled it out of fear of the other two’s reaction. He didn’t need to admit to them that he still felt quite scared of Sonja. Her being here, showing him up at every turn. When he wasn’t scared, he instead was filled with a rising anger. He didn’t want any words disparaging her or the girl getting back to her ears.
Still, he had to say something, the other two were staring and Tom knew him too well. If he said nothing his friend would fill in the gap. He might not intentionally tell her, but Tucker knew that big mouth. Whatever he said here would make its way to Sonja.
“Well, she’s more competent than most men I fought with,” He settled on. The worst reaction that’d get out of her was a raise of her eyebrow.
Jordan snorted.
“Well, I guess they might just be a group of oddities. Still, if that was the best place to dig, Wag would have us up there. They’re just settling because we got the best part,” He spoke with such confidence. He trusted his little crew he had made. They’d get all the treasure from this place, he was sure.
Perhaps Tom or Tucker still had doubts, still wished to at least take a look over at what their competition were doing. Before they could say anymore, though, another voice came to interrupt the moment.
“Have any of you lads seen my tool kit?” Gaines asked, gaining all three men’s attention.
“You lost them again?!”
“Good God, man. You’d lose your eyes if they weren’t stuck in your head.”
Quickly, the other group were completely forgotten as their focus instead turned to making fun of their friend.
𓂀 𓂀 𓂀
Sonja didn’t have to whip the rope towards the warden as she did a series of complex knots to ensure that it wouldn’t slip from the pillar and leave them stranded in the ruins below. She did, however, get thorough enjoyment out of it so continued to do so despite how it was probably making the job take longer. The annoyed look on his face was worth it.
The soldier was more than a little surprised at how quickly they had gotten started. She must’ve only been gone for ten minutes tops, but when she had come back Capsize had immediately dragged her over to a crevice rambling on about how it might be a good way down into the ruins.
It seemed she had a good eye for these things. It had taken a little work to properly open it up enough that they’d all be able to climb down, but it did certainly seem to open up into the city below. At least it opened up into a deep, black pit that surely led to the city eventually.
The woman in question was currently polishing a large mirror. Its twin she had already given the same treatment, and it was currently being haphazardly propped up by her brother. She gave him half a look as she continued on with her task.
“You’re meant to be catching the sun with that, Red,” She told him, quickly getting him to fumble the mirror into the exact opposite position than the one he had been putting it in.
“What are those mirrors for?” Sonja asked. The pair had been something Redbeard had picked up at the trading post. He had seemed delighted to see the unwieldy things and haggled for them. Capsize too had seemed beyond pleased about them despite the great amount of effort it took to get them packed up onto the camels.
The woman had run off to get the mirrors once they’d gotten the crevice open. She’d looked down there, squinting into the pit, focusing to try and spot something in the darkness. And whatever she had seen down there had triggered her to retrieve the mirrors, roping her brother into setting the things up.
“Oh, it’s an ancient trick, you’ll see,” She said with a smile. She looked down at the mirror in her hands, seeming now satisfied with its condition. She stared over to the one Red was placing and began to place her own in relation to it.
It was a funny little dance. Clearly Capsize knew precisely what she wished to do, but had to wait until her brother had completed his own task. Clearly this frustrated her, her nose scrunching more and more as he continuously readjusted. It was funny, though thankfully it wasn’t long until he was done fiddling with his mirror to allow his sister to properly place her own.
Sonja still couldn’t tell exactly what the purpose of it was, but it was clear enough at least that they were finished. That probably meant she shouldn’t waste any more time. She tugged on the rope a few times to ensure that the knots were strong as she thought they were. Satisfied enough, she kicked the remaining coil down into the hole. The thick hempen cord unfurled as it descended, becoming their gateway down into the ruins.
“Are we finally ready?” Alister demanded, shooting to his feet after spending the entire time sat around not helping.
“Yes, yes, we’re about ready,” Redbeard replied dismissively.
It was technically true. There was nothing preventing them from descending into the depths and going after the treasures below. Though, she still had something she wanted to do.
“Give us a minute, will you,” She said, shooting a glare towards the warden. He gave an exasperated sigh, looking tempted to storm off if only that wouldn’t completely drag him away from the potential treasures below.
She didn’t give a rat’s ass about what he thought, though. Her focus, obviously, was on Capsize.
The woman had quickly gathered that she was the other part of the ‘us’ that Foxx had been referring to. Obviously, she was itching to get down below. The book was surely down there, resting somewhere beneath their feet. She needed to find the statue before the other crew. However, at this moment, Miss Foxx looked quite unlike herself.
The soldier was shifting nervously, seeming quite unsure of herself in a way that she hadn’t before. Capsize wondered briefly if this was a reaction to being back at this city where she had previously faced such horrors. The thought left a sticky guilt in her throat for her own excitement.
However, as quickly as she considered that idea, it was nudged away from her mind as Foxx took a leather wrap that had been hanging from her shoulder. Capsize had thought it to be some part of the woman’s gun bag as that was what she was used to hanging from that position. Except, now that she was being handed it, she realised that the shape didn’t match at all. This was far too thin and didn’t quite look like any of the supplies she knew to be in their possession. So where had she--?
“I, uh, borrowed this for you from our friendly neighbours,” Foxx began, not quite devoid of her usual confidence, but showing nerves that she never had before. Capsize, of course, understood the true meaning of the word borrowed. She’d heard Red use the word to describe something enough times to.
However, while she normally might have some moral objections to that, she instead found herself smiling. As she opened up the wrap, she found within a set of tools like the ones she had been lamenting the loss of back at the trading post.
Foxx truly had listened to her. The idea made her heart rapid in a way she thought foolish yet still left her smiling like an idiot. She’d never had anyone do anything like this for her before. “I thought you might like it for when you’re, you know…”
Sonja found herself dodging those pretty eyes as she fumbled through her words. Why was this of all things embarrassing her? It wasn’t as if she lacked experience with flirting, so why--?
“Thank you, Miss Foxx,” Capsize’s voice pulled her from her attempts to be evasive. She looked up, being met with a soft smile that left her warm in an entirely different way than the beating sun. That happiness confirmed that her sneaking about in the other camp had been worth it.
God, she was down bad for this girl…
“Let’s get down there, shall we?” And that made that smile even brighter. There were horrors below their feet, she was sure of that fact, but as long as she stayed close by, surely there wouldn’t be any risk to Capsize. Maybe watching her work could even be fun...
That was the thought Sonja held in her mind as she became the first to descend into the darkness below.
